THE BRITAIN ABROAD.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 25, Issue 40, 26 May 1914, Page 7

THE BRITAIN ABROAD.

" TIMBER-HUNTING " IN NEW ONTARIO. "Fort William ; next station, Fort William. Twenty minutes for breakfast.’’

1 These words, uttered in sonorous 1 tones by the brakesman of the ■ " Atlantic Express," served as an ' alarm clock to at least two of the 3 sleeping passengers on board, and j in a short time we were making a ■ hasty toilet. Early the morning 3 before, we had left Winnipeg, en ! route for New Ontario, there to > spend a month in an exhaustive 1 survey of a part of that wild 1 country to estimate the amount of ! timber standing, and its value. Ex- . : cept for dinner at Kenora the day , ! before, we had not had a square r' meal since we left Winnipeg, so 3 (hat prospects of breakfast at Fort f : William made leaving our comfort- ■ i able berths a much easier task than r j it otherwise would have been. A few minutes later wo were ap- ■ preaching Fort William, and as we emerged from the last rocky cut- ■ ting on to the level country sur- ’ rounding the town, we had the grand experience of seeing the sun rise ■ over Lake Superior, scattering the mists in its progress and making i the elevators and the shipping in • the harbour stand out clear and sharp against the sky on the one I side, whilst the sparkling blue waters of the lake on the other 1 stretched as far ns the eye could I reach, its surface dotted here and ; there by a few ships on their way ’ to various ports. i At Fort William we changed trains, and proceeded by a very slow and ■ uncomfortable "mixed" train, along a tortuous and extremely ,danger-ous-looking track, known in official circles as the Port Arthur and Duluth branch, but locally called the Poverty and Distress line. A greater part of the track seemed to be constructed on the switchback plan, the idea evidently being ! for the engineer to "let her rip” down hill so as to obtain enough speed to carry us over the next, providing of course, that the train remained on the track. Fortunately the day was a complete success, although we heard that on the eeturn journey, two days later, two freight cars lost their balance and fell into the ditch, leaving the coach at the rear standing on the track, whilst the engine relieved of its load, made a fine dash up the next hill. ! ON THE TRAIL. “ 1 After four hours of this highly exhilarating form of travelling we arrived at the twenty-second mile post, which was to be our headquarters. The proper name of this place Was Nolalu, sometimes thought to be an Indian name, but which is really only the first two letters of three of the words which make up the name of the company owning the surrounding .neighbourhood, viz., the "Northern Land and Lumber Company." Next day wo started off, each man carrying a pack strapped across his shoulders, containing blankets and enough food for a week. The "grub” consisted mostly of fat pork, beans, flour, tea, sugar, and salt, with a piece of "pemn.ican” for emergency. "Pemmican" is buffalo or moose meat specially dried and preserved by the Indians, and has wonderful, keeping qualities, often twenty or thirty years, whilst to masticate it thoroughly will take an hour or two : of solid chewing. j For a few miles the road was 1 good,’ but after we passed the last | farm, some nine miles from Nolalu, i we had only a bare track to fol- j low, and that soon dwindled into a blazed trail. These trails are made by Government surveyors when the land is surveyed and divided off into sections, ranges, etc.; and is simply i a passage cut through the - wilderness wide enough for a man with a pack to pass through. Every few yards a tree is “blazed" by removing a small portion of the bark with a hatchet, so that there is no danger of straying into the paths made by the deer and moose as they pass to and fro. Walking now became difficult, barred as it was by fallen trees, whilst occasionally a cedar swamp or brook would have to be crossed, and a good deal of ! careful balancing would be needed to cross successfully. j As evening approached we emerged from the forest, only to find a 1 mountain rising sheer upright before j us, whilst the trail made a big circuit to avoid it. On the rising ground we made camp, which conO * 1 sisted of a good fire and a double blanket each, and, after a hearty 1 supper, soon were fast asleep. * The method of working a timber hunt is this. In the first place each | man provides himself with a sketch j or map of the district, which show's j every section. All these sections | j are a mile square, and are surround- I *

ed by a blazed trail, ami section posts at the corners. One mail starts out north and inspects every section for four or five miles, noting on his map the amount and nature of the timber as he proceeds, and then turns east or west to the next range, and works back to the centre. The other man is doing the same to the south. SHORT COMMONS. Wo gradually worked our way eastward, covering a strip ten miles wide by two deep, and a few days later we came to the Pine river, where, after a long search, we found a canoe, hewn out of a log, among some bushes, which had

been left by the surveyor. We were thus able to proceed, but provisions were running short, and we were already reduced to eating pemmican, and biscuits of our own manufacture. Owing to the nature of our work we were unable to carry guns, which fact no doubt the animals of the forest were aware of, for every evening a moose-cow and her calf would come to the river to drink, whilst down the stream a short distance a small herd of deer sported about at the edge of the water.

At last our provisions gave out, whilst we had yet one more day’s work to do before we could start back for headquarters, so we decided that we would try and catch some fish. By using a branch of a tree for a rod we were able to fix up some sort of fishing tackle, and soon succeeded in catching a few fish, but these Were so small that they barely made a meal. As a last resource we decided to try frogs as . a dish, and having obtained several, we carefully fried the legs with a piece of very fat pork. We were then able to have the best meal we had tasted since we left Winnipeg, and only regretted that there seemed to be no more frogs left in that part of the river.' Next morning, after more frogs, we started our tramp back to headquarters and civilisation, leaping from log to log as we crossed the swamps with light hearts and lighter packs, no doubt partly owing to the "froggy” nature of our last meals.— "Weekly Telegraph,”